The Impact of Anthropogenic Activity on the Quality of Bottom Sediments in the Watershed of the Delňa Creek

Abstract

This paper is focused on evaluating the quality of bottom sediments and water in the watershed of the Delňa creek, where gold, antimony and mercury were mined in the past. The results showed that the biggest source of pollution was a heap of mining material, where the limit values of Sb, As, Hg and Pb concentrations in the sediments were exceeded. Other sources of pollution in the river basin were the right-hand tributaries. A comparison of the dependencies of the concentrations of potentially toxic metals in the water and sediments shows that while the concentrations of pollutants in the waters react to the current state of water quality in the basin and tributaries (pH, concentration, discharge), the sediments exhibit a stable concentration character.

Keywords

• potentially toxic metals
• mining activity
• sediment quality
• water quality